Meritorious Achievement Research Articles

Simbolismul solstițiului de vară. Lecturi comparative, Iosefina Blazsani-Batto

In the book Symbolism of the Summer Solstice: Comparative Readings, Iosefina Blazsani-Batto approaches, through a comparative perspective, a theme with wide resonances in Romanian folkloric mythology, but also in the universal one, taken up by many historians of religions, exegetes and, last but not least, writers. The wide area of research reflects the author's desire to document as well as possible the scholarly approach to the theme and to give secondary importance to field sources, as well as to imaginative elaborations of them. The research, especially through its various hermeneutic possibilities, is a meritorious achievement which, complemented by the author's constant preoccupation with this field, offers a textually illustrated field of analysis of the subject, both in terms of theory (ethnography) and folklore and literature.

Editorial introductions.

Editorial introductions.

End of an Era: The Passing of Two Science-Editing Pioneers

This past autumn, 2 longtime leaders in science editing died, each in their late nineties. Each had played prominent roles in what is now the Council of Science Editors (CSE), serving in the post now termed president and receiving what is now called the CSE Award for Meritorious Achievement. Each had witnessed and contributed to the developments in science editing in the second half of the 20th century. Each also had mentored and educated editors and authors, both personally and through their writings. The current article pays tribute to these 2 editors: Edward J Huth and Robert A Day. Edward J Huth (1923–2021) Edward J Huth was chairman of CSE’s predecessor, the Council of Biology Editors (CBE), in 1973–1974. He received the CBE Meritorious Award in 1987. His acceptance address1 included a call for “a single society for editors of all sciences”—a vision fulfilled in 2000, when CBE became CSE. In keeping with this vision, Huth chaired the CBE style manual committee when it produced the edition that was the first to be titled Scientific Style and Format.2 Whereas previous editions had focused on the biological sciences, this much-expanded edition, published in 1994, encompassed the physical sciences as well. Huth also provided leadership as a founding member of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, which developed the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Medical Journals.3 On a lighter note, Huth coined the term salami science,4 used to designate reporting different parts of a single study in separate papers to […]

Dr. Janice L. Pasieka receives the Oliver Cope Meritorious Achievement Award of the American Association of Endocrine Surgeons

Dr. Janice L. Pasieka receives the Oliver Cope Meritorious Achievement Award of the American Association of Endocrine Surgeons

Celebrating 60 Years of Accomplishments of the Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute1.

Chartered by the U.S. Congress in 1961, the Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute (AFRRI) is a Joint Department of Defense (DoD) entity with the mission of carrying out the Medical Radiological Defense Research Program in support of our military forces around the globe. In the last 60 years, the investigators at AFRRI have conducted exploratory and developmental research with broad application to the field of radiation sciences. As the only DoD facility dedicated to radiation research, AFRRI's Medical Radiobiology Advisory Team provides deployable medical and radiobiological subject matter expertise, advising commanders in the response to a U.S. nuclear weapon incident and other nuclear or radiological material incidents. AFRRI received the DoD Joint Meritorious Unit Award on February 17, 2004, for its exceptionally meritorious achievements from September 11, 2001 to June 20, 2003, in response to acts of terrorism and nuclear/radiological threats at home and abroad. In August 2009, the American Nuclear Society designated the institute a nuclear historic landmark as the U.S.'s primary source of medical nuclear and radiological research, preparedness and training. Since then, research has continued, and core areas of study include prevention, assessment and treatment of radiological injuries that may occur from exposure to a wide range of doses (low to high). AFRRI collaborates with other government entities, academic institutions, civilian laboratories and other countries to research the biological effects of ionizing radiation. Notable early research contributions were the establishment of dose limits for major acute radiation syndromes in primates, applicable to human exposures, followed by the subsequent evolution of radiobiology concepts, particularly the importance of immune collapse and combined injury. In this century, the program has been essential in the development and validation of prophylactic and therapeutic drugs, such as Amifostine, Neupogen®, Neulasta®, Nplate® and Leukine®, all of which are used to prevent and treat radiation injuries. Moreover, AFRRI has helped develop rapid, high-precision, biodosimetry tools ranging from novel assays to software decision support. New drug candidates and biological dose assessment technologies are currently being developed. Such efforts are supported by unique and unmatched radiation sources and generators that allow for comprehensive analyses across the various types and qualities of radiation. These include but are not limited to both 60Co facilities, a TRIGA® reactor providing variable mixed neutron and γ-ray fields, a clinical linear accelerator, and a small animal radiation research platform with low-energy photons. There are five major research areas at AFRRI that encompass the prevention, assessment and treatment of injuries resulting from the effects of ionizing radiation: 1. biodosimetry; 2. low-level and low-dose-rate radiation; 3. internal contamination and metal toxicity; 4. radiation combined injury; and 5. radiation medical countermeasures. These research areas are bolstered by an educational component to broadcast and increase awareness of the medical effects of ionizing radiation, in the mass-casualty scenario after a nuclear detonation or radiological accidents. This work provides a description of the military medical operations as well as the radiation facilities and capabilities present at AFRRI, followed by a review and discussion of each of the research areas.

Editorial introductions.

Editorial introductions.

근대 조선화상 화취공의 경영활동 - 『조업사적책』을 근거로 -

This paper is to review Yang family’s emigration from Shandong Province to Korea and business activities during modern times with a ‘Booklet of Ancestors’ Meritorious Achievements’ written by Yang, Jian-min(楊建民). Yang, Yi-zhi(楊翼之) opened dry goods company called ‘Hejugong’(和聚公) in 1903 in Chinese settlement of Incheon. Hejugong was established as a joint venture with a trading capital of Yangma Island and Yantai in Shandong Province. The company developed through importing dry goods from Shanghai and selling them with using Overseas Chinese networks constructed all over the country in 1910s and 1920s. Hejugong was the third place in the field of annual sales within Overseas Chinese major companies of Incheon. Overseas Chinese major companies of Korea were seriously damaged by an expulsion agitation against Overseas Chinese in 1931, and Japanese colonial government’s significant tariffs increase against Chinese importing dry goods. They almost went bankrupt, but ‘Hejugong’ was able to exist with the help of investing in real estate and equity investments towards overseas Chinese companies in Incheon. In addition, Hejugong set up ‘Hejugong Oil Mill’ in Harbin and ‘Taifenghao’, a agency of British American Tobacco in Mukden respectively to overcome these crises. ‘Hejugong Oil Mill’ was managed by his eldest son, Yang, Jian-min(楊建民). ‘Taifenghao’ was run by his second son, Yang Ziping(楊子平). This is the first time to be revealed for Overseas Chinese merchants of ‘Shandong Group’(山東幇) in modern Korea to invest directly in China. Political economy’s problem did not keep Hejugong’s multilateral management going well. ‘Taifenghao’ was closed just after Yang Ziping was arrested to be publicly executed on the suspicion of anti-Japanese activities. Hejugong also had no choice but to stop its management by a series of sales person’s arrestment and execution with the same reason. Hejugong Oil Mill was also closed during the Second Chinese Civil War.

Editorial introductions

Editorial introductions

Editorial introductions

Editorial introductions

Editorial introductions

Editorial introductions

The history of the American Association of Endocrine Surgeons’ Oliver Cope Meritorious Achievement Award and its eighth recipient: Stuart D. Wilson

The history of the American Association of Endocrine Surgeons’ Oliver Cope Meritorious Achievement Award and its eighth recipient: Stuart D. Wilson

New Social Classes, Old Visions of Hierarchy:

This article focuses on the reading of the popular Chinese novel Chronicles of Du Lala’s Promotions, a bestseller published in 2007 and soon followed by numerous spin-offs, to observe how the novel constructs its vision of social hierarchy in the context of the emerging market economy and of the new social stratification brought about by the capitalist division of labour. The article argues that this vision of social hierarchy, although formulated in response to the new capitalist reconfiguration of the Chinese society,draws upon and is structured by a pre-existing traditional understanding of social hierarchy, one which is steeped both in the Confucian and the Maoist constructions of the social order. In particular, after having compared the ideal social structures painted by the Confucian and Maoist doctrines and by the current Chinese government, the article illustrates how the novel, reverberating the current governmental ideology, presents the middle class as a sort of moral elite entitled to enjoy privileged status thanks to its meritorious achievements in the market.

New Social Classes, Old Visions of Hierarchy:

This article focuses on the reading of the popular Chinese novel Chronicles of Du Lala’s Promotions, a bestseller published in 2007 and soon followed by numerous spin-offs, to observe how the novel constructs its vision of social hierarchy in the context of the emerging market economy and of the new social stratification brought about by the capitalist division of labour. The article argues that this vision of social hierarchy, although formulated in response to the new capitalist reconfiguration of the Chinese society,draws upon and is structured by a pre-existing traditional understanding of social hierarchy, one which is steeped both in the Confucian and the Maoist constructions of the social order. In particular, after having compared the ideal social structures painted by the Confucian and Maoist doctrines and by the current Chinese government, the article illustrates how the novel, reverberating the current governmental ideology, presents the middle class as a sort of moral elite entitled to enjoy privileged status thanks to its meritorious achievements in the market.

APhA–APRS recognizes pharmacy researchers

For APhA2014, the Academy of Pharmaceutical Research and Science (APhA–APRS) chose an impressive slate of pharmacy researchers working to analyze and apply research to improve patient health. Pharmacy Today spoke with this year's honorees about their experiences.

Bioengineering and mechanobiology: pushing (and pulling) the limits of cellular mechanics

The Minisymposium on Bioengineering and Mechanobiology focused on engineering approaches to investigate the mechanical signaling of cells and tissues and was cochaired by Adam J. Engler (University of California, San Diego) and Celeste M. Nelson (Princeton University). The program moved thematically from the mechanics of the nucleus to those of the cell cortex and finally to the mechanical behaviors of tissues. Jan Lammerding (Cornell University) described work probing the role of the nuclear envelope proteins, lamin A and C, in the structure and mechanical properties of the nuclei of individual cells and whole tissues. Fibroblasts isolated from patients harboring mutations in the LMNA gene that cause muscular dystrophies had softer nuclei than controls. Expressing these mutated forms of the LMNA gene in otherwise lamin A/C–deficient mouse embryonic fibroblasts also yielded softer nuclei and defects in coupling of the nucleus to the cytoskeleton. Importantly, applying strain to the body wall musculature of genetically modified Drosophila melanogaster showed that lamin mutations altered nuclear mechanics within intact muscle tissues. Ben Fabry (University of Erlangen–Nuremberg) demonstrated that the binding between the focal adhesion proteins p130Cas and vinculin is important for mechanotransduction. Mechanical stress is coupled to p130Cas through vinculin and initiates the activation of downstream signaling through pathways such as the extracellular signal–regulated kinase (ERK1/2) pathway. Phosphorylation of p130Cas on residue Y12 or mutation of this residue to a phosphomimicking glutamate prevents vinculin binding, reduces the localization of p130Cas to focal adhesion sites, and suppresses ERK1/2 signaling in response to mechanical stretch. Yee Seir Kee (Robinson and Iglesias Laboratories, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine) used micropipette aspiration and compression approaches to investigate how assembly of the cleavage furrow responds to mechanical stress in Dictyostelium. During cytokinesis, cell shape is controlled by a mechanosensory system that includes the myosin II motor protein and the actin cross-linker, cortexillin I. Accumulation of myosin II at the cleavage furrow is governed by a regulatory network composed of IQGAP1, IQGAP2, kinesin-6, and INCENP. Feedback loops present within this network are responsible for regulating the levels of myosin II at the cleavage furrow. Celeste Nelson (Princeton University) presented results suggesting that cells respond to the mechanical properties of their surrounding microenvironment, in part by regulating the subcellular localization of small GTPases and the assembly and activation of NADPH oxidase. Mammary epithelial cells underwent epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) on stiff, but not soft, substrata. Cells on stiff substrata apportioned Rac1b, a splice variant of Rac1, to the plasma membrane, at which it formed an activated complex with NADPH oxidase and permitted the generation of reactive oxygen species. The complex did not form on soft substrata, and blocking membrane localization of Rac1b prevented EMT on stiffer microenvironments. Dylan Tyler Burnette (Lippincott–Schwartz Laboratory, National Institutes of Health) was the recipient of the Merton Bernfield Memorial Award, which is given every year to one graduate student or postdoctoral fellow in recognition of his or her meritorious achievements in cell biology research. Burnette discussed his efforts in expanding the imaging toolbox to the nanometer scale using conventional fluorophores, in an approach dubbed bleaching/blinking-assisted localization microscopy (BaLM; Burnette et al., 2011 ). Point localization–based superresolution images with a resolution on the scale of tens of nanometers can be produced from commonly used fluorescent molecules by taking advantage of their intrinsic bleaching and blinking. Four-color images can be generated via BaLM with standard electron-multiplying charge-coupled device cameras by using multiple fluorophores in a single cell and can resolve individual motor proteins along intact cytoskeletal networks. Adam Engler (University of California, San Diego) reported on the differences in differentiation response between adipose-derived and bone marrow–derived stem cells. Both types of stem cells are sensitive to the stiffness of their surrounding microenvironment and differentiate down a muscle lineage when cultured on extracellular matrix of a specific compliance mimicking that of muscle in vivo. The adipose-derived stem cells (ASCs), however, express markers of muscle differentiation at 10-fold higher levels than do the bone marrow–derived stem cells. Furthermore, a fraction of ASCs cultured under these conditions form multinucleated myotubes, which could be maintained when replated on non­permissive substrata.

Cool head, hot brain: cerebral blood flow distribution during exercise

Cool head, hot brain: cerebral blood flow distribution during exercise

Electrical Engineering Hall of Fame: Wilmer L. Barrow [Scanning our Past

In 1966, the IEEE awarded the Edison Medal to Wilmer L. Barrow in recognition of his of meritorious achievement. The citation noted his role in developing means for transmission of electromagnetic energy at microwave frequencies. He spent the early years of his professional career in teaching and research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) before becoming a research manager with the Sperry Gyroscope Company. He is remembered especially for his pioneering research on wave guides and horn antennas.

The Prince and the Sage: Concerning Wang Yangming’s “Effortless” Suppression of the Ning Princely Establishment Rebellion

The Prince and the Sage: Concerning Wang Yangming’s “Effortless” Suppression of the Ning Princely Establishment Rebellion Larry Israel (bio) In 1519 Wang Yangming (1472–1529) was residing in southern Jiangxi after having just led campaigns to suppress rampant banditry throughout the region. Although he wished at the time to leave his post of Grand Coordinator of Southern Gan and Superintendent of Military Affairs and return home to visit his aging father and recuperate from chronic illness, he was prevented from doing so by the development of a rather different kind of threat to the security of the country. This threat was the rebellion of the Prince of Ning Zhu Chenhao (1478–1521), the great-great-grandson of Ming Taizu’s sixteenth son, the Prince of Ningxian.1 The prince initiated his rebellion on 1519/6/142, but was defeated by Wang Yangming within approximately 42 days in what must have been a rather dishearteningly ignominious conclusion to years of grandiose expectations and preparation. But the challenges for the grand coordinator did not end with the capture of Zhu Chenhao. At the very moment he was submitting victory memorials, favorites of the Zhengde emperor, (Zhu Houzhao; Ming Wuzong; r. 1506–21), had convinced their ruler to lead a force of his own to the region. These favorites in turn attempted to force Wang Yangming to hand the prince over to their custody so they could release him on Lake Poyang and create an opportunity for the emperor to lead a campaign of his own. Because Wang Yangming refused, his life was at stake for months. In the end, however, after [End Page 68] having resided for a period of time in Nanjing, the emperor chose to return to Beijing, and Wang Yangming survived the challenge. The story of Wang Yangming’s campaign and his success in navigating the harrowing aftermath have received a degree of attention in scholarship on his philosophy and intellectual development because it was just after the campaign that he began speaking extensively about what is usually considered to be his final teaching: “the extension of the innate knowledge of the good (zhi liangzhi).”3 Because the primary focus of virtually all scholarship on Wang Yangming has been his philosophy, his conduct throughout this time is typically narrated in brief and somewhat hagiographical fashion as testimony to the significance of his teaching, or at least as background context for and commentary upon his intellectual development and spiritual journey. Julia Ching, for instance, states that these trials and tribulations “proved to him the reliability of his own ‘way,’ the way to sagehood which follows the promptings of the human heart and its desire for good.”4 These promptings were the innate knowledge of the good (liangzhi) which for Wang Yangming became an “an absolute norm, an authority for itself.”5 Similarly, although Xu Fuguan is one among a very small number of Wang Yangming scholars who attempt to give serious consideration to his “meritorious achievements” in light of his philosophy, and who therefore pays attention to his large number of official communications, his conclusions are similar to those of Julia Ching. He points out that those who hold Wang Yangming’s achievements in high esteem typically point to his rapid suppression of the Prince of Ning’s rebellion. With this he is largely in agreement. According to his assessment: The rapidity with which he assembled troops, the resourcefulness and decisiveness with which he deployed the military, and [the fact] that within less than two months and seven days he pacified the rebellion,6 naturally are very striking achievements. Yet this is something a skilled general could have achieved. But amidst dangerous suspicion and shocking [circumstances], the clarity with which he saw principle, the decisiveness with which he judged matters and, after his success, [his ability] to evade suspicion and distance [End Page 69] danger, to remain unfettered by concern over safety and danger, and to look indifferently upon worldly honor and official rank—this is not something a skilled general could have done.7 Xu Fuguan believes that what is most impressive about this campaign was Wang Yangming’s ability to navigate harrowing challenges and yet remain...

MTT-S Member Les Besser receives a 2006 IEEE EAB Award

MTT-S member Dr. Les Besser has received the 2006 IEEE Educational Activities Board (EAB) Meritorious Achievement Award in Continuing Education.

Hall of Fame for Electrical Engineers—Elihu Thomson

The Edison Medal was proposed in 1904 during the observance of the 25th anniversary of Thomas A. Edison's introduction of a successful electric lighting system. The medal was first given in 1909 with Elihu Thomson as the first recipient. He was cited for his meritorious achievement in electrical science, engineering, and arts as exemplified in his contributions thereto during the past thirty years. Elihu Thomson was born 29 March 1853 in Manchester, England, although both his parents were Scottish. An economic depression caused the Thomson family to immigrate to the United States in 1858, where they settled in Philadelphia, PA. Elihu Thomson graduated from Central High School in 1870. Edwin J. Houston was a teacher at the school and subsequently became a partner with Thomson in various projects. Thomson and Houston designed and installed several small arc-lighting plants in Philadelphia during 1879. Thomson became a very prolific inventor and accumulated approximately 700 patents during his career. His patented inventions related to arc lighting became the basis for the formation of the American Electric Company in 1880.